PERCEPTIONS

"REPENTING SOMEONE ELSES DEEDS , IS NO LESS THAN A SIN FOR YOURSELF"

"Hello mom , what happened?"

Christina asked ,

"Christina , come to the hospital , right now , she's acting up again"

She said quivering , "Alright , i'm coming "

She came towards Alden and excused herself and dashed out. But while leaving she didn't notice that she dropped something on sand , Alden too left without noticing the shining ornament laying on the sand.

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A man sitting on a sofa , sipping his coffee , when he heard a groan and heels ticking noise , he moved his gaze from laptop to see his wife coming , walking unsteadily , he called her out ,

"Where are you coming from?"

She stopped in her tracks and turned around

"Do you hear him calling me ,'Mom!! Mom!!' Listen carefully , he's calling me."

"THERE'S NO ONE!" , he yelled at his wife ,

"There's no one here , alright !?"

He muttered again ,

"He won't come back now , he's gone , and we have to accept that , okay?"

"How does that make it 'okay'? My son died!! Did you hear that?" She sniffed

"Nothing can bring him back now" her knees felt weak and no sooner her body crashed down onto the cold marbled , she continuously was running her hands through her hairs ,

"Auretta we have to go cope up with this , you can't ignore your health , just look at yourself ,what have you done to yourself in just some hours" he tried to console her ,

"It's not anyone's fault but that bloody murderer's , that bastard killed our son , and I'll make sure that he faces the consequences"

he assured her , and placed his hands on her shoulder to give her support to stand up , he took her in her room and tucked her to sleep comfortably. He come out and dialed a number on his phone and said ,

"I wanna meet that investigating incharge and that detective , right now." He cutted the call and left the house.

.

I'm now was sitting in the meeting hall and is waiting for the detective to come , when a man comes in hesitantly and ,

"So you're Oliver Flair , the detective." I said ,

"Ah! You got to know the news , of today's murder?" , he stated sarcastically ,

"Yes s-sir , i'm sorry for your loss"

Oliver bowed his head apologising , "loss??!!.. , you call it loss??..

"He seems to think that my son's death is the only loss i suffered , he freaking don't understand that my company lost it's next CEO candidate , i already was in loss of my trusted loyal workers and now him too , my wife is losing her senses; i've to handle her , those employee's families to keep their mouth shut , press , my reputation , and now these morons , he thinks that the killer is after me" Arnold's thoughts got disrupted by Oliver's statement ,

"It's a pattern , every murder has happened either at 1 p.m or 4 p.m , so i assume that next will happen at 1 p.m , on 25th of May"

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"If the killer if really after me , then the next victim can be anyone from my family , and now if anyone from my family got a little scratch , then you'll see what I'll do!!"

I left the meeting hall after i warned them.

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He sat in his car and drove off to his house , overwhelmed by the whole situation , he reached his home stepped inside the living area and turned on the TV , the news channels was all about the gruesome incidents taking place in Neverland , he just sat there on the couch and stared at the TV infront of him ,

"Who are you? Why are you doing this? What did i do? Why are you after me?"

All the why's were roaming inside his head , he asked these questions , but there was no one to answer him , he close his eyes and put his both hands on his nape lower his face and took a deep breathe to clam down himself from these chaos.

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"Why's she acting up again? How? The doctor's are giving a high doze , the how?"

Christina worried drifted towards eastern forest of Northbury , a town near by the countryside.

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The creaking sound of a wheelchair can be heard through the feebly lighten hallway of an old building . A woman in white uniform of a nurse , pushing a middle-aged woman sitting lifelessly on that wheelchair in a patient's gown , passing by multiple rooms of different unheard stories .

She suddenly halted her steps infront of a room , 1805 , she briefly stared at it , and continued to escort the lady ahead .

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[23RD MAY]

A man walking by the beach saw something reflecting bright light of sun rays , he stepped forwards to see , there he finds a pendent , he looks around to see whether the owner of the ornament is nearby searching for it , he sneakily put that jewellery in his pocket , and was about to dash away , when he heard someone scream loudly , he turned towards the source of voice and saw two men coming towards him , one of them asked.

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"What are you doing?"

He asked by putting his handa in his jeans pockets ,

"I was just , just walking around"

The man said hesitantly,

"Oh and what's that in your pocket , that you just picked up and sneaked inside?"

Another man standing there asked , sweats pickering on his forehead , he asked

"Who even are you to ask me anything?"

He showed the man his police identification card.

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"Senior inspector of police , Mark Smith"

The man gave that pendent to mark and sprinted away , Oliver chuckled slightly at that man's behavior and asked Mark for the pendent , he took a close look at it ,

"It's really pretty!" He exclaimed ,

"Indeed!" Mark remarked ,

"Let's go now..."

They both left from the beach and sat in their car , and drove off.

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While driving Oliver asked Mark to to stop at the bakery , they both enter inside. Oliver was at the counter ordering for himself , when his gaze diverted towards the photo frame behind the girl taking his order , something familiar was in the picture , he put his hands in his pocket , like searching for something , and took his hands out , the pendent was still with him , the photo has the same pendent , he called a girl who took his order and asked about the person in picture ,

"Oh! That's the owner of this bakery ,

Ms. Christina Winslow , but may i know , why are you asking that?"

"Can i meet her?" Oliver asked ,

"Wait , I'll call my manager first"

She excused herself , while she was gone to ask , Christina was going inside her cabin , when she was stopped by a voice , she looked back to see who called her.

"Excuse me , are you Christina Winslow?"

Mark asked , she responded confused ,

"Yes , i am , how may i help you?"

"Hello , i'm Mark , and this Oliver , we went to the beach earlier , and found something that perhaps belongs to you"

Mark said and Oliver showed her the pendent her eyes sparkled , seeing her jewellery , she nodded her head and took a step closer towards Oliver ,

"That's mine , i lost it yesterday"

She said extending her hand forward to take the pendent from oliver hand , while taking it her hand brushed against Oliver's , he was staring at her ever since she entred , she looked up to see oliver , when her eyes met his hazel ones , his fixed gaze was still lingering on her face , when Mark cleared his throat to get Oliver's attention , he came forward and slightly pinched his arm , oliver came out of his daydream and said ,

"Yeah , here you pendent , we shall leave now" , he realized that he was staring at her for too long . They both left from the bakery.

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